Dodgers Territory - Offense Wakes Up in DC, How Long Will Mookie be Out? World Series Rematch!

Episode Date: April 6, 2026

Alanna Rizzo, Katie Woo, and Clint Pasillas recap the Dodgers' series sweep in Washington. What went well for Los Angeles as the bats finally woke up? The hosts discuss (00:55). Roki Sasaki made his second start of the year and it was a mixed bag. Things we're continuing to keep an eye on with Roki (6:45). The Dodgers will be without the services of Mookie Betts after he suffered an oblique injury. How long will Mookie be sidelined? Katie shares the latest (11:09). (15:41) Kyle Glaser joins as we shift the conversation to the World Series rematch in Toronto. What kind of series are we in for against the Blue Jays? Plus thoughts on the Dodgers 9 games into the season, his insight on Roki Sasaki (25:16), and more! Use our code TERRITORY10 for 10% off your next SeatGeek order* seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TERRITORY10 Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount Check out DT merch at https://dodgersterritoryshop.com Support Guidry's Guardian at https://guidrysguardian.org Find Clint on YouTube at https://youtube.com/@alldodgers Follow Katie's work at The Athletic https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/author/katie-woo/  Subscribe to Dodgers Territory on YouTubeRate and review our podcast on Apple and SpotifySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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It was kind of funny to me how people were panicking a little bit about this offense. We saw especially after the Guardians series. Of course, the Dodgers go out and do what they do against the Nationals. They're top five in the majors and scoring now. So there's no concern about this offense. Welcome to the Monday live episode of Dodgers territory. I'm Alana Rizzo. That is Katie Wu.

Also Clint Paseas. We are your host. Thanks so much for being here, guys. please rate us five stars, like and subscribe to the Dodgers Territory podcast on Apple, Spotify, and wherever you get your pods. We're trying to get to 20,000 subscribers. That is our next milestone moment. Kyle Glazer will join us in a few moments, but first we have a sweep to talk about in the big ticket.

Katie Woo! This sweep and happy belated 30th, my friend. But this is the sweep that we talked about that the Dodgers needed, right, a way to right the ship and not to take anything away. of course from the Washington Nationals, but this is something that you look at the paper and you're like, okay, well, I mean, this is probably what we needed with the doctor ordered. The offense wakes up, Katie, for 31 runs in the three game series. You were there. What do you make of it? This is why it's our job to calm the people down after a six game sample size because that offense was simply just not going to produce like that for long. You know, guys are getting back into their swings.

many of them hitting a different spot in the order for the first time. It seems like it's finally clicked for those guys. I think Shohei Otani's Homer and the first game of the series was kind of the beginning, if you will, of everyone just saying, okay, Otani's got it. We're fine. You see Freddie Freeman break out. It's funny that first game in the Nats home opener. We were so concerned over the top four hitters production in the order.

And Otani, Kyle Tucker, Mukie Betts, Freddie Freeman, All Homer, along with Eddie Pahas, who's just on an incredible tear to start the season. So we just have to give them some time, guys. And that offense looked a lot more like, I think, what we all expected it to over the last three games. I really loved Sunday's win, though, to be down 6'1. You guys have to understand this is new for me, to be down 6'1, and then continue to claw away and chip away, especially with a lot of the reserves playing. And guys like Alex Call, Santiago Espinal, Dalton Rushing's Key, Key, Homer.

to kind of get them back in that game for the reserves to come in and then Dave Roberts and the ability to unload his bench with Will Smith, with Kyle Tucker, and the Dodgers finding out a way to win that game. That is what a winning team does. And I think that is probably their most important win of the season

just in terms of who they had and the news that they had to start the game too, that mooky bet, so I'm sure we'll get into going on the aisle with that right of bleak strain, all around just a great series and exactly what's team needed before their big matchup with the Blue Jays starting tonight. Yeah, this is a ball club that I even have the thumbnail of this episode here.

The Dodgers are inevitable. And you mentioned, Katie, you know, we enter that series looking at the numbers, looking to the Dodgers, very middle of the pack. And then all of a sudden, you see batting average, if you're watching here on your YouTube set, batting average, 285, they're number one in baseball, all of the numbers very quickly. They're at the top of, you know, the leaderboards or right near it in baseball. baseball when it comes to offense. And, you know, pitching takes a little bit of a step back with Rokie's outing there.

But overall, I mean, the Dodgers gave you exactly what we've been looking for. This offense waking up and show hey, being the guy to, I think, say, everything is going to be okay. Everybody, get on my back, let's go. I'm a hit a homer and everybody else plays along. I also want to look at Andy Pahez. You mentioned Pahez for a second. And Alana, we're not sending Andy to the moon anymore because the guy. who's leading the team in OPS and average.

He's hitting homers. I think he's leading baseball and hits at the moment. 10 rib-eye stakes on the season. This is just a kid who suddenly is a complete baseball player. But you see on the screen there, you know, needs to get the left-handed attack going a little bit, which we've seen him do in the past. But a lot of good things.

A lot of things that love about the way this team is playing right now. And at the right time, heading in for a World Series rematch against those Toronto Blue Jays. Well, I tell you what, Andy Pahas, Katie Wu, is not on Artemis. He is not on his way to the moon because he is absolutely carrying it up. Seven hits in the series, you guys, 471 on the season. Thank you, Clint.

It's called pop culture, get on board. Andy Pahas has been such the consistent offensive threat, which is really nice to see because we wanted him to take his game to the next level. And certainly in this very small sample size, he has done that, Katie. What are his teammates saying about him? What is Dave Roberts saying about him? If I'm, if I'm this team, I'm like, leave him alone. Don't touch him.

Don't say anything. Whatever he's doing, Katie, Andy Paez is doing a nice job. That's such an interesting way to put this, Alana, because with Mookie Betz out, Dave Roberts has to figure out what that new top of the lineup is going to look like for at least like the near future. And you can make the argument that Andy Paas, who seemingly never gets out and has, I think he is the most pop for any eighth hitter in all of baseball, would benefit by moving up in the lineup. And we talked to Dave Roberts about this before Sunday's game, said he's

still configuring what he wants the top of the lineup to look like. Someone asked if Andy Paa has was a contender, a contender to move up in the order. And he said he is, Dave Roberts said this. But there is something to be said about the success Paa has found hitting eight. And Dave Roberts' philosophy is this. He thinks that there's a special kind of emphasis that starting pitchers put on getting through the first six hitters of the order. They get to that seven, eight, nine spot. And they feel like they can, I don't want to say relax. but the way that they approach and attack these hitters are differently because statistically, these hiters don't hit as well as the first six.

Andy Paix is such a rare exception to that. And he's done such a nice job of taking advantage of maybe that kind of weak spot for pitchers in the lineup that I'm not sure Dave Roberts wants to mess with that because it is leading a lot to his success. So I'm not sure who's going to go fill in mooky bets a spot the top of the order. And I can understand why fans and maybe even, you know, other baseball people would think that Andy Paa has as a contender to go up and hit, you know, third or fifth or sandwich around Freddie Freeman. But there's something to be said about the success that he's found hitting

eight. And I think Dave Roberts is on to something with the strategy. It makes me almost want to say leave him there because it's working so well for the rest of this lineup. Let me ask you again. And I know he has a topic of conversation constantly. And until he doesn't need to be, he will be. And we're talking about Roki Sasaki. I just don't know, Katie. And again, you are the expert. you're with this team every day. You have much more of a pulse than Clinton. I do because you're with the club on the daily. What are we doing?

What should we do? What should the Dodgers do when it comes to Roki Sasaki? They're going to keep throwing them out there. One, they don't really have anyone right now knocking on the door to take the plays. I see a lot of River Ryan, get River Ryan up here. Look, River Ryan is a special talent. And we talked about this before,

coming off Tommy John, and the Dodgers are right to monitor his innings because we'll see what's happened to Gavin Stone. Transfer to the 60 day. If you're not super careful with these players and the Dodgers were very careful with Gavin Stone. Injuries happen, then you loosen for even more time. So until Blake Snell is ready and he's trending in the right direction through another bullpen at Dodger Stadium while the team has been away, they're going to keep throwing Roki Sasaki. Justin Rubewski taking that spot start tonight.

That is an option. But for right now, for what the Dodgers want to do in totality, rest the rotation, get extra rest days for show hey, maybe stack it up where he's pitching in front of an off day. They need Robleski for that flexibility. And they need Sasaki to figure it out. So it's been better. I don't think the line score necessarily was indicative of his overall performance. But I think if you look at like, I think he pitched better than the line is going to say. But that's not to say that he pitched great either.

The fastball command was down. The forkball splitter, not really as nearly as effective as it has been. And maybe that's because he's working in that third pitch, the slider cutter combo, whatever you want to call it. For Roki, what we're going to look for over the next month or so is continuous improvement. And the Dodgers, this is kind of a luxury of this ball club, have the ability to do that because, you know, they're not really concerned about anyone else in that rotation at the moment. So for Roki Sasaki, it's keep throwing him out there, keep seeing improvement. The fact that he got through five innings, given how the fourth inning he went yesterday, was great.

But I also don't think that Sasaki is at that part of his career, given how high as pedigree is, where we're giving out platitudes for getting through five innings. So they're going to keep throwing them out there. They don't have anyone else. The front office has not entertained going to AAA or a relief or stint, nor should they, given where they are in the season right now. But it's on Rokey to make these improvements. Otherwise, we're going to be having a different conversation.

You know, I really liked what Doc said after the game yesterday. If you watched it all, which we know Katie did, maybe or maybe not, nursing a little bit of a hangover there at the National Square. That was good. She was locked in. Yeah, that definitely helps. But what Dave said, it was better than the box score. If you watched Rokey yesterday, you saw him battle.

What I really loved, and I talked about this a lot last night as well on my All-Dodger show, what I loved was him going back out for that fifth inning and putting up a zero. I think that was massive for Roki. Obviously, the kid is battling some of the mental side of the game. And I think his first two starts, while not sexy, while not super pretty, they are huge building blocks from what we saw, all the fears we had coming out of spring training. So he's going the right way. I am interested if we are asking people or telling people to kind of keep an eye on some things as the season progresses and his starts, start to accumulate, just kind of continuing to watch what we're seeing out of his pitch uses.

We saw a lot of the slider cutter, however you want to call it last night, pitch profiler threw this together, which is a lot of blocks and dots and squares and things of different colors. For some people, other things, it tells you your spin rate and what pitches, how much you. He's throwing his splitter, his forkball, whatever you want to call that as well. I call it a forkball. Anyways, watching as he gets more used to that mixing that slider in and having it affect the forkball along the way, just having him become a complete pitcher with three pitches, which is what they're trying to do right now. Everything he's doing for a number five starter is great, in my opinion.

If you just looked at the box score, you're going to say send him to the moon. It's not time to send Roki to the moon quite yet. Not yet. I'm interested in hearing what Kyle Glazer, as I say. We do have him ready to go soon. He'll be joining us in a second. But Alana. Before we get the Kyle Glazer, and we will, a longtime Major League Baseball writer and a friend of the show,

I want to ask you, Katie, I think this is, and I think you put it very well, that this is the first time the Dodgers will have to test their depth, right? So Mookie Betts on the IL. I had lower back tightness, which ended up being an oblique strain, which I cannot stand oblique issues and hamstring issues because there is no true timetable for a return. But the depth is tested. Now, Hassan Kim is up, just kind of the mood in the clubhouse. And where do they go from here in terms of what they need to see out of Kim until Mookie gets back?

Yeah, I'm with you, Alana, the oblique strain is certainly, I think, a much bigger deal than lower back tightness. I think originally as the Dodgers were trying to figure out where this pain was coming from, They were going to be comfortable giving Mooki a few days off if it was a back thing because they're going to go play three games on a turf field at Rogers Center and then use the off date of recover. But the MRI results showed an oblique strain and they are notoriously finicky injuries. So while Dave Roberts was hesitant to give a timeline, usually oblique strains are about four to six weeks for recovery. It can be a little less. It can be a little more.

He did say Mooky was feeling a lot better and more optimistic. So we'll take his word on that. But for at least the next few weeks, no Mooky best. And that's a significant blow, obviously, these Mookie Betts. So the Dodgers now have to find a way to test their middle infield depth. And I was a little bit surprised to see how Dave Roberts was viewing this. Pison Kim is back up with the club. They're going to put tune shortstop, Kim and Mugie Rowe.

And Alex Freeland is going to essentially be the starting second baseman going forward in Mookie bets his absence. And I think you've got to look at past trends and you're wondering, why wouldn't Kim play second base? He has over 200 innings there compared to less than 50 at shortstop. in the majors and Alex Freeland can play short. This is a testament to Alex Freeland. The Dodgers want to know what they have in him long term. And with Mookiee out, this opens up really the only time that Alex Freeland can get continuous starts because of who else is on the roster. It's going to be a crunch for playing time when Tommy Edmund and Kike Hernandez come back. And they're both

scheduled slated around the same time mid to late May for their potential returns off the IL. So in the Dodgers eyes, this is the prime time. And if there's any silver lining to losing Mookie bets, which there isn't. But if there is, it's that the Dodgers now have several weeks to give Alex Freeland actual runway for continuous playing time. They know what they have in Kim at the major league level. They obviously know what they have in McGee Rowe. They need to know who Alex Freeland is as a major leaguer, not just a AAA guy with some promise here. They need to figure out what exactly that promise is.

So that's why you're seeing the playing time shake out the way that it is. Dave Roberts did say, while the platoon is going to be more on the short. stop side. He really wants to see Freeland get some advance against Rydies. The matchup is not super favorable though. You will see McGee Rowe get the start and Kim and then they'll sit Freeland for Riteys that don't necessarily match up with him all the way.

But more or less, it's going to be Alex Freeland starting at second base, the platoon at shortstop because the Dodgers need to see what they have in Freeland. And this might be the only time they can do so because Tommy Edmund certainly isn't coming off the aisle and sitting the bench. Yeah. Yeah. Again, you don't want

Mookiee hurt, but absolutely I agree with the silver lining right now. Seeing what you have getting eyes on Hesson Kim sooner. That's going to be big for this team and probably for Hessan Kim, who is already doing really well at AAA. We got more Dodgers territory to come, but first, we've got to tell you

about today's show sponsor, Seekek, our friends. You know, guys, I was looking at the Dodgers schedule to see when they were coming back, and of course they are back home from this road trip on Friday. And I saw not only do they return home on Friday, they also have the first

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It makes sense. Green means good. red means bad and of course we have a code for you guys too you support us we want to support you in return use the code territory 10 for 10% off your next set of tickets at seat geek that's 10% off any tickets with promo code territory 10 make sure you click the link in the description to download the app and have the code automatically added to your account so you can use it later the official ticket marketplace of major league baseball all season long that is seat geek I'm luke Listen, join me each week for Film Never Lies.

Since retiring from the NFL, I've had a lot of my mind, and now I've got my own show. So if you're tired of lazy takes, if you want honest conversations, join us each week. Film Never Lies available on all TSN platforms and the IHeartRadio app. All right, guys, we are excited to be joined now by Kyle Glazer. Longtime Major League Baseball writer. He has done this for many moons, a friend of the show, you can see by all the credentials behind the man, that he's into a number of events.

Kyle, good to be with you. We're going to circle back to what we were talking about in terms of your opinion, first of all, on just the start of this Dodgers team in 2026. What's your overall kind of like broad stroke takeaway? Well, first and foremost, it was kind of funny to me how people were panicking a little bit about this offense. We saw especially after the Guardian series,

Gavin Williams went out and shoved seven scoreless innings, 10 strikeouts. It's still early in the season. We're seeing this all across baseball. A lot of teams are worried about their offense. Of course, the Dodgers go out and do what they do against the nationals. They're top five in the majors in scoring now. So there's no concern about this offense.

I will say Andy Pah has taken the step he has so far earlier this season. That is absolutely huge. This is a kid who has gotten better at every step. I first saw him in Ogden when he was in rookie ball. At the time, he was a big wild player with a big swing, a lot of talent, had to corral it. He did. There was a point where he was a heavy player. He was a heavy set.

Everyone had him ticketed for right field. He went out, lost 20. pounds and became a viable center fielder. And after last postseason, it was going to be really interesting to see what adjustments he would make, how he'd come back out, how it would affect him. And he's come out better than ever. And this has been a theme of Andy Pahas, his career. Whenever there's a challenge, whenever there's something he has to fix, whenever this thing

has to adapt to or change, he gets it done. And that's something a lot of player to struggle with. Give him a lot of credit because, look, this Dodgers offense, you had Kyle Tucker, you know how ridiculous it is. Now if you talk about Ad Andy Pahas, if he goes from 270 with 20 plus homers to 30 plus homers, 35 plus homers. It just makes this offense even more ridiculous. Kyle, I'm wondering, hi, by the way. Nice to see you. The Dodgers are implementing this like six-man hybrid rotation with Justin Robleski taking that spot start tonight against the Blue Jays.

The primary reason they're doing this is to just protect pitchers. And when you, anytime you can get Yamamoto an extra day of rest, but you know, glass now coming off an injury season, Shohei trying to build up. It makes sense to do this. When you're looking at Robles and though and just kind of the rotation in general. How long do you think the Dodgers need to do this? And do you think that because they have the depth in their system, they can write this out maybe a little bit longer than just the month of April? We've seen them do this a lot over the years,

whether it's bringing a sixth man, especially when you have guys like Yoshnobu Yamamoto and Shohei Otani in your rotation, they're used to pitching with that extra day of rest. So we're going to see them do this, build in off days throughout the season. And they've done it even before those guys were around. You have guys like Tyler Glassnow and Blake Snell who are tremendously talented, but there are injury histories here. We're going to see a lot of Justin Robleski.

We're going to see a lot of River Ryan when he's ready to come up. Just as last year, you know, Emmett Sheehan became a big part of their rotation. At the end of the day, this is what the Dodgers do. Yes, they have this star level talent that can beat you, but they also have better depth than anyone else. The guys who are number six, seven, eight, nine the rotation, they'd be starting in almost any rotation in baseball. That's the level of depth they have. So again, Robleski, Ryan, all of them. We're going to see a lot of them throughout the season as injuries hit.

We know the Dodgers like to leave guys on the aisle a little longer than maybe they need to to keep them fully rested and ready to go in October more than anything else. So, yeah, we're going to see this for a while. By the way, I do have to say, of all the offseason additions in Dodgersland, forget Kyle Tucker, forget Edwin Diaz, adding Katie, adding Katie Wu to Dodgers territory. That's the offseason edition of the year. By the way, hey, like, like, like, Life is always better when you got more sundown.

Amen. Oh. Mark Wiener strikes again. Hey, to take all the fun and excitement away from Katie there, she gets glazed up by glazer here. Listen, I love you bringing up the Andy Pahas growth because obviously that was, you're doing a lot of prospects coverage at BA at that time, baseball America, people are nasty.

There's a kid, a lot of people are clamoring for right now, AAA, James Tibbs, the most well-traveled, like, two-year prospect, one-year prospect in baseball right now. I don't know how you keep this kid down with what he's doing. I also don't know how you have him crack the Dodgers outfield. What do you think the next couple of weeks months look like for James Tibbs and the Dodgers because I think we needed some JT3 love on the show. We haven't talked about him enough.

It just comes down to injuries, right? Look, this is a Dodgers lineup that is stacked. We know it's stacked. it's always going to be stacked. If injuries hit, and like I said with their pitching staff, right, they have a lot of guys that are in AAA or kind of their depth pieces. That would be starters on most teams. The same thing goes for a lot of their position players.

That's particularly in the outfield. The Dodgers have had a tremendous form system for years. Whether it's die or hope, whether it's James Tips the third, whether it's Mike Sorota, who they drafted out of high school originally and loved and were so thrilled to get them back in the Gavin Lux trade. They have so many options. They have so many guys they can pull up. many guys at every level, whether it's James Tibbs III or really anyone else. They have so many guys

that you can expect to come up. And look, immediate impacts are tricky. There's always an adjustment period, but at least provide some positive production for the Dodgers. I will see James Tibbs the Third at some point this year. Again, whether it's in June or August, is going to depend a lot on just factors out of his control, mainly injuries. I want to ask you about the upcoming series. While it's only the beginning of April, this one's kind of a big deal. It's a World Series rematch, of course, the Red Sox, the Red Sox, the Red Sox, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays meeting again, head to head the Red Sox, wish they were in the World Series last year. And before that, you know, counts by the way. Do you look at it as much more than just a regular series at the beginning of April?

And what in, you know, what specifically will you be looking for in this one? because it's two teams going very different directions right now. Yeah, look, I think there's always going to be that storyline of, oh, it's a World Series rematch, but these two teams have much bigger goals in mind than just beating each other in April. Again, obviously there's probably going to be a little bit of something. I fully expect the crowd in Toronto to be extra rabid. But again, it's not really, I don't want to make it bigger than it is. In terms of what to watch for, we talk about the Dodgers pitching,

and I do want to talk about Rokey Sasaki here in a second, who the Blue Jays, of course, for the runner-ups for. The Blue Jays pitching right now is just absolutely in shambles with all the injuries they've had. They open Trey Savage on the aisle, Jose Barros on the aisle, Shane Bieber on the aisle. They're trying to string it together. So from the Dodgers perspective, this is actually a great opportunity for them to keep riding the momentum they picked up in Washington offensively, keep piling runs on the board. Again, people were freaking out about this offense last Wednesday. They're now fourth in the majors and runs scored.

They have an opportunity to climb even higher against a Blue Jays pitching staff that right now is just not healthy in the least. All right, last one for me, Kyle, before I have to bounce, hashtag road life, which shout out my friend, my girl, Alexa Dad, the national sideline reporter, letting me use her kitchen and her Wi-Fi to do this show. That is a real friend. Let's talk a little bit about Otani. The Dodgers are finally getting the two-way player, the two-way show Hey, Otani that they bid for. And while he's not going to see 30 starts, they're still going to use him as a traditional starter, just maybe not on traditional rest. What is a fair expectation for Shohei Otani as a true two-way player for the first time since 2023? Yeah, I had the good fortune of covering Otani back when he was in Japan all the way through his Angels career.

I was kind of our designated Otani guy. It was very fun. I think we're going to see a lot of what we saw. Again, 2021, you know, that first year, the average is going to be higher than that because he's grown as a hitter. But I think something in the 23 to 26 start range, you know, whether that's 130, 140 innings, again, Shohayotani, when he's playing both ways

and also given the fact he is coming off of two UCL injuries in his career, you're not going to push him for 32 starts and 200 innings. That's just not what you're going to do to get the best-ass-shoeo-a-tony. But if he's able to give them that 140-ish, maybe even 150 innings we saw him give in some of his best seasons with the Angels, you add in, again, he's grown as a hitter. I think we're still going to see a guy, even if he's not able to hit 300 like he was when he was solely deaching,

he's going to be in that 270s, 280s range. It's still going to be 40, 50 homer in power. You're going to get a tremendous 2A player. Again, it's just not going to be 32 starts and 200 innings. But, again, 20-some-odd starts, 140, 150 innings with 270 and 40 homers. Yeah, that's still the best player in the singlely most talented player we have ever seen in the game's history. He's pretty good. He's a fun one to watch.

All right, Katie, you want to get out of here so you can go do your real. job? My real job. Come watch live chat the Dodgers, Toronto, Blue Jays rematch of the World Series with me on the athletic app starting at 7 o'clock Eastern 4 o'clock Pacific. I'll be back with you guys Thursday for the off day, maybe talking about another Dodgers series win. Who knows?

I'm going to bother you. I'm 100% going to bug you during that live chat. Please do. I hope you have like a ridiculous subscriber name. Make it like as ridiculous as possible. I'll do my best. That is Katie Wu goes. We'll give her the boot and we'll continue the conversation with Kyle.

You mentioned, and I was talking before, Roki Sasaki. That's the main thing you talk about right now when you're covering the Dodgers. Sasaki is the lightning rod of conversation. But kind of curious, you've covered this team a lot. You're not directly covering the Dodgers daily right now, but just from like outside perspective looking in at Roki, the narrative surrounding him. what do you think about where he's at right now, the growth, the difference in these two starts from spring training, and, you know, what can you kind of project or hope to project for

Sasaki over his next, you know, five to eight starts? One of the things I wrote about and talked about with Roki Sasaki from the moment he saw, and again, I go back with him to 2021, well before he was even supposed to come out, before we knew he was going to be posted. This is a very young pitcher, and I think people overlook that and they need to remember that. This was not a finished product by any means when he came over. Roki Sasaki was like a lot of young pitchers, a guy with explosive stuff, but things like command, sequencing, poise, durability,

all the things that are so, so, so critical to being a successful big league pitcher beyond just your stuff, those were going to be works in progress. This was not Yoshinoviyamamoto, a guy who had won three Saba more awards and was ready to come over from day one with four plus pitches he commanded. and poised from having pitched in the Japan series, and just frankly being one of the best pitchers in the world. Your Shinobi Amamoto was a ready-made, it's a pendant to you ask, but ready-made number one or number two starter from the moment he signed,

that's why he got $325 million. That was never Roki Sasaki. He was always going to be a longer trajectory, a longer path, a longer runway. And we're seeing that. This is what young pitchers do. We saw it yesterday against the Nationals. He was pretty good for three-and-two-thirds innings. I thought it was really promising.

He was landing his slider for strikes consistent. His slider is better than his cutter. He made a mistake to Luis Garcia, fast-bott-loved over the plate. Okay, it happens. No problem, right? Three and two-thirds. It's only down two-one. And then he just couldn't get out of it when things started going against him.

Kepard Reeves, that single that hit off first base, bounced up. That's a bad luck single. Then he makes a good pitch to Jose Tena, and Jose Tana just left, you know, goes the other way. It was a good piece of hitting, single on the left. Then he gets ahead of James Wood O2 and hangs a slider, and all of a sudden, it's 6-1. And that's more than anything. That's maturity. It's toughness.

That's poised. And that comes with experience. He's not experienced to the level of these other guys yet. So it's going to come more slowly than I think a lot of people like. I actually thought yesterday was an improvement. Seeing three pitches, four strikes over multiple innings. It's just when things started going against him in that fourth inning, he couldn't get out of it. He couldn't stop the spiral.

But like you said, Clint, coming back out in the fifth inning, getting a one, two, three inning, I thought that was huge. So as much as the line yesterday was not good. there were things to work with, there were things to like. And again, this is what happens with young pitchers. They'll show you some really good things. They'll show you some things that frustrate you, and it's just part of the progression. Kyle, I think a lot of the folks that are followers and fans and viewers agree with you.

I think they think that as long as you're constantly making a little bit of improvement every single time, right? I think that's what you can ask for. We don't need you to be Sy Young overnight. But constant improvement, I think, is a fair ask. and Roki Sasaki has been doing that. Before we let you go, Kyle Glazer, I want to ask you about your opinion on something that when you have a sport

that is as old as baseball and you have purists in the game, change is tough, right? I personally like the new ABS. I would like to get your take on whether you think it's good for the game and what you've noticed in terms of the implication and efficacy of the ABS so far.

I absolutely love it. I'm on the younger side, but I'm a little of an old soul as a purist in baseball. When I started seeing the rules changes in the minors, at first I was skeptical about the pitch clock and similar rules changes. But as soon as I saw it, I was like, oh, this works. This actually makes the game better. And we saw that with ABS.

It took him a few years to figure it out in the minors, worked through some of the kinks, worked through some of the tweaks. But now you have a situation where games are not being decided. Games are not being turned on a blown call by an umpire. And we have seen so many games end on a bad call by an umpire with the tying or go ahead run and scoring position. We have seen so many at-bats get shortened because an umpire misses a call. Now we have a way to fix that. And we're already seeing situations where, hey, a call gets challenged, it gets reversed. And all of a sudden, instead of being the end of the inning, it's a go-ahead home run.

At the end of the day, the most important thing is getting the calls right. And umpires do a better job than they're given credit for. The average umpires is getting 94 to 96% of the balls and strikes calls right. It's just those few percent seem to come at bad moments. Now we can eradicate that. I see this as an improvement for the game. And ultimately, no one wants to see a game end on a bad call. They want the players to decide who wins and loses, not the umpires.

At the end of the day, I think this is working. There's going to be continued tweaks. But I do like it. I'm a fan of it. And Major League Baseball deserves a lot of criticism for a lot of things they've done. But they have absolutely nailed the rules changes, which ones they've chosen to bring up and how they've rolled them out. And this is the latest step in that.

AMOB, appreciate that we're appreciating what you do because you mess up a lot of other things. Hey, Kyle, we always appreciate talking to you, man. Look at that. We didn't bug you once about the Padres this time. That's fun for everybody involved, I'm sure. But guys, that's Kyle Glazer. Make sure you go find him on the internet. Don't find him when he's driving home.

That's weird. But we'll see you the next time, Kyle. I'm good, guys. All right, Chris. Let's get to last Licks because we have a pup to talk about. I'm Luke Wilson. Join me each week for Film Never Lies. Since retiring from the NFL, I've had a lot of my mind.

Now got my own show. So, if you're tired of lazy takes, if you want honest conversations, join us each week. Film Never Lies, available on all TSN platforms in the IHeart Radio app. On the Serving Pancakes podcast, conversations about volleyball go beyond the court. Today we have a little best friend compatibility test. Okay, how long have we been best friends for? Since the day we met. As the League One volleyball season heads towards its final stretch, there's no better time to tune in.

We really are like yin and yang, vodka and tequila. You'll hear unfiltered analysis, behind-the-scenes stories and conversations with leaders making an impact across the sport. Today we have Logan Ledneckie. I feel like our fan base in general is very connected. Just like a comforting feeling getting to play at home. Whether you're following the final push of love season or just love the game, serving pancakes brings you closer to the action and the people shaping the future of volleyball.

Jordan, Thompson had that microphone. Oh, God forbid we make mistakes or cuss at our coach. Like when time or two times. Open your free I-Heart Radio app, search Serving Pancakes and listen now. This has been serving pancakes and we'll catch you on the flip side. Okay. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Hey, I'm Jay Shetty, host of the On Purpose podcast.

My latest episode is with Noah Kahn, the singer-songwriter behind the multi-platinum global hit stick season and one of the biggest voices in music today. Noah opens up about the pressure that followed his rapid success, his struggles with mental health and body image, and the fear of starting again after such a defining moment in his career. It's easy to look at somebody and be like,

your life must be so sick. Man, you have no clue. Talking about the mental illness stuff, it used to be this thing that I was ashamed of. I'm just now trying to unwind this idea that I have to be unhealthy physically or in pain in some emotional way in my life to create good music.

If someone says that I did a good job, I'm like, yeah, I'm good. Someone says that I suck. I'm like, I suck. Getting to talk about this is not common for me. Right now I need it more than ever. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Chetty on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, guys, I actually have some very decent news.

I have introduced you many times to Havana, Unana, and the good news is she is currently doing an adoption trial with a family in Redlands, California, and they are incredibly excited, and the adoption trial is going well. A couple of things that need to be done prior to her adoption. is we need to get her just a couple of more training sessions. So I humbly ask you for a couple of pennies to just kind of finish up her training to make sure that she is set up for success. So we're looking for some donations, five bucks, ten bucks, $750 million would be fine. Donate at giddreysguardian.org for Havana. But the good news is she is on the right trajectory and the right path.

I don't know if you guys remember, but this little lady followed my best friend and her husband into their home completely, completely emaciated and scared to death, obviously very neglected. And I tell you what, it's been a heck of a seven months, but she is healthy, she is happy. She is the weight that she is supposed to be at. She's a wonderful pup, and she's a puppy, so she's getting trained. So if you are led to, please donate any amount to Gidre's guardian.org. Okay. I'll say, I'll say this.

I don't know. I think she's hanging out with the wrong crowd. Look at that hat backwards in the whole thing. Listen, she's hanging out at Clint's house. too often and that's a scary thing and the tongue and the whole thing and that poor that poor little lady we got to get her out of there you guys hurry please send me money so i can get her the proper training so she's a she's a good girl she's a good good girl um i love this c dash n l u i donated hope you know what i'll take it i'll take hope i'll take hope i'll take prayers i'll take a reshare that helps

just as much so we appreciate uh any support that you guys can give us all right um baseball thought for the road this is really cool clint and i and i love that katie woo brought this up and i I love that you chose this. The first nine small paintings for every Dodger game. This is Zoe Adriel, I believe, I hope I'm saying that right. Zoe Adriel. She is painting a little picture, like doing a little drawing of every single game. Her goal is to get better at painting.

So 162 of these little drawings do the trick. I mean, this is cool. Like it's just emblematic of every single game. I love this because I love the Shohei Otani Tumblr, $5 billion for a tumbler. Hey, the doctor's, oh, no, Cleveland won that game, so that's pooping. But anyway, I love this. Your thoughts, follow her on Instagram and support her stuff. I think it's really cool.

Yeah, that's really cool. I saw it pop up on my feed, you know, randomly, like the first or second day, and I've been following along, and I'm happy she put the grid of the first nine up there, and I know people are starting to see it. It's really cool. I'm a big fan of supporting artists in any way you can, and that's not AI. it's real art. That's what makes it fun. That's what makes it cool. So everybody, you know, go check out Zoe on the internet and see if she can get to all 162. And then do we get into the postseason? Do we get all the way

through the world series? I want to see that. And then you could. You could. Maybe like even like a flip book would be cool too. But like I think when the Dodgers get to the postseason, because come on, man. Just like continuing the whole story of the season. Who knows Zoe what this can turn into. but let's support her, a Dodger fan, and a budding artist. I think it's really neat. Good for her. Absolutely. We got a game tonight.

We got Dodgers against the Toronto Blue Jays. You got Justin Rebleski getting the ball against old man, Max Scherzer. It's going to be a fun series. I'll be live after the game, by the way, on the All Dodgers YouTube channel. We'll be post-gaming. You and I are live tomorrow for post-game question. We are alive. Thank you, sweet baby Jesus for the Dodgers being on the East Coast.

She's a happy. I am happy Alana right there. Check Clint out tonight on all Dodgers with Clint Piscis. Clint and I will be back tomorrow night for postgame right here on Dodgers Territory. And the three of us will be back on Thursday 12 p.m. noon, 3 p.m. Eastern. We appreciate you guys. Don't forget to like. Greatest five stars, all the things. Dodgers Territory Shop.com for all of our goodies.

We appreciate you guys. We'll see you tomorrow night. Bye. On the Serving Pancakes podcast, conversations about volleyball go beyond the court. Today we have a little best friend. Okay, how long have we been best friends? This is the day we met. As the League 1 volleyball season heads towards its final stretch, there's no better time to tune in.

You'll hear unfiltered analysis, behind-the-scenes stories and conversations with leaders making an impact across the sport. Whether you're following the final push of love season or just love the game, serving pancakes brings you closer to the action and the people shaping the future of volleyball. Open your free IHeart Radio app,

search serving pancakes and listen now. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Ready for a different take on Formula 1, look no further than No Grip, a new podcast tackling the culture of motor racing's most coveted series. Join me, Lily Herman, as we dive into the under-explored pockets of F1, including the astrology of the current grid, the story of the sports most consequential driver strike, and plenty of other mishaped scandals and sagas that have made Formula 1 a delightful, decadent, dumpster fire for more than 75 years. Listen to No Grip on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jay Shetty, host of the On Purpose podcast.

My latest episode is with Noah Kahn, the singer-songwriter behind the multi-platinum global hit stick season and one of the biggest voices in music today. Talking about the mental illness stuff, it used to be this thing that I was ashamed of. Getting the talk about this is not common for me. Right now I need it more than ever. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the Iheart radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.